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Friday, 5 October 2012

Characteristically Muse - no sign of entropy yet!

Have I mentioned before that my daughter converted me?

No - not to religion!

She introduced me to the rock band Muse and I have bought all their albums and enjoyed them. So the new album has been on pre-order with Amazon for a few weeks and it arrived yesterday. After listening to it four times I think it might be their best (although obviously it is a bit early to say that).

Muse - The 2nd Law

The 2nd Law has characteristic features of the music of Muse. Exciting harmonies, melodies, bass and vocals (even if the words make little sense, but who cares about that). They are like one of the good old rock bands and definitely should be compared with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Queen . . . and all the best of the rest. Like all the best they have a certain characteristic sound. Like all the best, some of their songs are better than others, and the recent Olympics accident was not a high point in their career. Fortunately it isn't on The 2nd Law. That is a very good start!

What should you expect from this album? Good robust, harmonic, bassy rock. Sounds of Queen as aficionados might also predict, particularly in the track called Panic Attack, and the introduction to Explorers. And a short track called Prelude which (in my opinion) subtly introduces another new generation to the beautiful melodies of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto (2nd movement). It was known as Eric Carmen's 'All by Myself' to the youths of the 70s, or Celine Dion's version of the same song from the mid 90s.

Explorers is also an obvious hit, as are Big Freeze and Follow Me, whereas Animals might be one of the classic album tracks that we will all love for years to come.

I also notice sounds that will appeal to fans of Madonna (and I don't use that comparison pejoratively), particularly in the tracks called Madness and 2nd Law Unsustainable.

Muse is defying the Second Law of Thermodynamics very well. [For those of you who care, this is because it is not a closed system. Physics is still safe!]

Keep up the good work chaps!
You're keeping entropy at bay!

Small note: Look up the Second Law of Thermodynamics on Wikipedia. There is a bit of physics in most of their albums. Another note: it would be great to hear Muse attempt a version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

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